1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the oilseed industry. More particularly, though not exclusively, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for extracting oil from oilseeds.
2. Problems in the Art
In the oilseed industry, it is desirable to analyze oil extracted from seeds such as sunflower seeds or canola seeds. In order to continually improve the quality of oilseed crops as well as evaluating harvested oilseeds, it is helpful to know certain properties of the oilseed such as oleic levels, oil content of the seeds, etc. These measurements are typically performed by obtaining a sample of the oilseed oil and using a device such as a refractometer to show the oleic level, for example.
In order to separate oil from an oilseed, the seed must be crushed or the oil separated chemically. A typical prior art device for extracting oil from oilseeds is comprised of a pair of iron plates and a hydraulic jack for pressing the iron plates together. The resulting oil extracted from this prior art method is spread over a very large area of the iron plates and is also mixed among the crushed seeds. To get a suitable oil sample, the iron plates must be scraped with a squeegee and the crushed seeds separated from the oil. As a result, it is very difficult, time consuming and messy to obtain a suitable oil sample using the prior art method. Another prior art method of extracting seeds from an oilseed is to place a seed in the jaws of a vice grip and crush the seed. This also has obvious undesirable results. Another problem with the prior art methods of extracting oil from oilseeds is that each resulting sample of oil is small and comes from just a few seeds. It would be desirable to have an oil sample coming from a large number of seeds to get a more accurate indication of the properties of the seeds which may have variations from one seed to another.
Oilseed extractors also exist in the art for use on a commercial scale. This type of equipment is very expensive and not practical for obtaining just a sample of oil.
Other prior art devices to extract seeds from oilseeds are comprised of a perforated tube with a screw type bit fitting in the interior of the tube. The screw bit presses seeds through the perforated tube with the oil coming out the sides. These types of devices are very difficult and time consuming to clean between samples and are also very expensive.
Therefore, a need can be seen for an improved system and method for extracting oil from oilseeds.